Posted
by
Zonk
on Wednesday October 18, 2006 @02:07PM
from the good-thinking dept.

Despite lower-than-expected launch numbers for Sony's next console, in an interview with Next Generation Kaz Hirai says he still expects a million units to be available by the end of the year. He goes on to discuss other elements of the launch, and Sony's expectations for this momentous event. From the article: "For launch day there is going to be a bit less than 20. For the launch window there is going to be a bit more. We are looking at the portfolio of the third party publishers for the launch day, and we are asking them which titles are going to be available for the second week, which ones are going to be available for the third week, and which titles are going to be for the end of the year. Basically we are managing the portfolio of the software titles everybody has, once this process is done we are deciding which titles are going where, and then we are going to have the final list of the launch titles for the US launch."

The summary says there will be a bit less than 20, in the context of the number of playstation 3's sold. What it really means is that there will be about 20 games available. Thanks for not making that clear at all.

Each PS3 will be equiped with Borg nanoprobes which will assimilate anyone who playes it. This way, all Sony has to do is produce 20. From there, the number of assimilated chumps will grow exponentially.

Resistance is futile. Your inefficient marketting strategies are irelevant. We will add your technical and biological distinctiveness to our own.

I looked at the headline and I was shaking my head in disappointment at it before.1 million units? WTF?

There are what, 7 million World of Warcraft subscribers worldwide.this is a system, not a game. And there's only going to be 1 million of them.

Sony is really going down the crapper. Which is a shame, because there are plenty of games that are exclusively on the PS2. Oh wait, it's not really a shame at all since they can move to a different system. In hindsight, I'm glad I preordered the cheaper version.

The PlayStation line seems to be well-known for providing hundreds of poor-quality games alongside a few enjoyable ones, but if half of them are crap yearly sports-based sequels then I can just play the other half instead.

I don't understand what benefit is gained by releasing a game the week after launch day. At that point, is that one week really going to make a difference in game quality? And if it would, why not then wait a month and get the game perfect?

No game is ever perfect. By your logic no game should ever be released, they should just keep "waiting a month" for it to keep getting better and better. At some point the game is as complete as its going to be, and its time to ship it. If that time is a week after the console comes out, then I would much rather them use that extra week than rush it to be out for launch date. You can certainly get work accomplished in a week, especially in testing for and fixing annoying bugs and glitches.

That games name was Half-Life 2...that game got delayed and delayed and delayed some more...it eventually became a mystery as to when it would be available. They (Valve) wanted it to be "perfect". You know, maybe this is the reason we are still waiting for Duke Nukem Forever, perfection...

"By your logic no game should ever be released, they should just keep "waiting a month" for it to keep getting better and better."No, that's not what this is about at all. The point is that at launch everyone who is buying a console will also buy a game. (I realize that this doesn't happen 100% of the time but it happens far more often than not.) Why not release the game when your audience is almost guaranteed to buy a game instead of waiting until week 2 when those who have already bought a console in t

Because if I buy a game at launch, and its buggy, then I will be unhappy, and avoid buying games from that company in the future. You don't have to be a launch title to do well. Sure, people usually buy at least one game with the console. People also buy games after that point too though, and if your game isn't one of the hyped up launch titles it won't matter much anyways. Most people don't buy 10 games with their console, so if your game is one of the "lesser" games, its going to be getting bought wee

In most cases, I'd guess it's less a matter of "we need just one more week to get it done!" and more a matter of strategy. Maybe some games don't want to go up against "must have" titles that will be available right away. Waiting a week or so on a less-anticipated title might actually help that title stand out in the pack a little better instead of getting lost or ignored amongst the other bigger names.

Its just a strategy of stringing out your product. Companies don't want to have a new console then only release games for it later. They want titles to gradually be released so people slowly can add to their collection as they obtain more money from work.
Its like a dripping faucet.. You can flood the market (fill the sink) by turning on the tap all the way, or you can let titles slowly eke out (let the faucet drip or slowly run) so the market isn't saturated... There's always something new

The next week is Black Friday. After the system sellout the opening day, retailers will want to advertise the VERY LATEST PS3 game for sale. Lots of free advertising for the biggest shopping day of the year. Do you think all 20 launch games are going to be listed in Walmart/Target/ToysRUs/etc. for the next few weeks after launch?

Besides, most PS3 "end-users" are going to be getting their PS3 through ebay a week later. Why buy the games before the system?

1. It makes the game release more of a media event since it's not one of the herd on release day. This also makes sure it's not drowned by release day coverage which usually won't bother to list launch titles in most media.

2. When you go back to the store to get your extra controller and other parts you suddenly needed - or show up hoping they have a new console that wasn't artificially held back to create demand - you'll see a New Game on the shelves and pay more attention to it.

One million units by the end of the year? I can't help but compare that to the reports that Nintendo expects over a million Wiis to be available on launch day alone and at least four million by the end of the year. Sony's numbers are underwhelming me.

Originally, Nintendo had plans to release 6 to 8 million Wii's by year end. Sony had plans to release between 2 and 4 million by year end.Both have scaled back their numbers. Sony mostly due to real and artificial supply constraints (they decided to ship more Blu-Ray players, which undercut the number of Blu-Ray components for the PS3, for example). Nintendo mostly due to quality and manufacturing utilization reasons.

However, this also artificially pumps up demand, as the original numbers were based on m

That's completely not right. Sony originally claimed 4 million worldwide by year end, and 6 million worldwide by March 2007.

Nintendo originally claimed 2 million worldwide at launch and 6 million worldwide by March 2007.

Nintendo has never given any numbers other than those. Sony has delayed the European release to March 2007, reduced their allotment to 2 million worldwide this year, but still claims they can have 6 million worldwide by the end of March 2007. The 1 million in this article is for North

Hopefully Sony will have the goods come the 3rd and 4th week of november. While a launch day sellout would impact price and scarcity greatly, it is up to Sony to deliver on their promise. Neither the PS2 or the Xbox 360 came through on their "promise" for prompt replenishments of supply. If Sony could pull it off it would make many a merry christmas. While I still have hope, I'm not that confident, those unforseen externalities always bite you in the ass at the last minute.